Nocturne (1946)

Directed by Edwin L Marin; produced by Joan Harrison

The theory that composer Keith Vincent (Edward Ashley) committed suicide may satisfy Lieutenant Halberson (Walter Sande) of the Los Angeles Police Department, but it doesn’t sit well with his colleague, Joe Warne (George Raft). For him, it’s a case of cherchez la femme, though there are rather too many ‘femmes’ to suspect.

A fairly standard detective movie, Nocturne doesn’t quite fit the standard film noir category. Though it has some elements, it seems more to be trying, than achieving. What else it doesn’t achieve is status good enough to recommend.

The plot is convoluted, relying partly on contrivance. For instance, we know the victim refered to the woman who is in his apartment when he dies as ‘Dolores’. Warne remarks that a similar notation on sheet music should make his job of locating the woman in the case easy. But it turns out that Vincent called all the women in his life ‘Dolores’. Why, we are never told. It seems just a device to lengthen the story.

Interestingly, Warne is first pulled off the Vincent case, and then suspended from the force, for his tenacity, and for upsetting too many citizens. I found the sensitivity of the police toward the public’s complaints to be a contrast to the usual situations in similar movies, in which the police could do pretty much as they liked without repercussions. Which is the more realistic portrayal of the times and place I can’t say.

Raft does a good job as the main character. Warne can take care of himself, but one gets the idea that Humphrey Bogart or maybe Pat O’Brien in one of his detective roles would not have been as long in solving the crime. There is one frustrating scene in which Warne misses the reaction a song has on a woman right at his table, because he is watching for a reaction from a second woman. This doesn’t impress the viewer, though Warne does take a couple of beatings more realistically than other crime-movie characters, and Raft is probably the only actor whose 40 year old character could live with his mother and still come across as tough.

The supporting cast is adequate. Lynn Bari plays the love-interest. She fills her role well, but there is no chemistry felt between her and Raft. For the short time they are on the screen together, he and Virginia Huston, who plays Bari’s character’s sister, seem to have more of a natural connection. John Banner has a small role as a commercial photographer.

The script is nothing special. The physical solution to the suicide / murder mystery seems far-fetched, and certainly nothing that the audience would come up with given the clues, while the motive just doesn’t appear strong enough. The direction gives us one very impressive tracking shot - the opening sequence - which begins over the entire city, then narrows through a wide window to Vincent at his piano. Done with special effects, it is probably the best thing in the film.

Over all, Nocturne is, if not routine, then not unusual, either. It doesn’t entertain or thrill enough to keep the viewer attentive, and interest in the whole story is maintained more to see the matter through than for any other reason.